The photo is of the crest of the Beartooths
as seen near Beartooth Pass on the Beartooth Highway, said by some to be the most scenic
road in the United States.

THE BEARTOOTH MOUNTAINS OF MONTANA

The Beartooth Mountains are the highest range in Montana
with numerous peaks higher than 12,000 feet elevation, and there are many
permanent snowfields and a few glaciers. They lie to the immediate northeast
of Yellowstone National Park. Their north face -- the Beartooth Front
-- is abrupt,
one of the most impressive mountain fronts in the Rockies. Their gradually-rising high
southern flank, which begins in Wyoming, is referred to as the Beartooth Plateau.

Capping the Beartooths is 12,799 foot (3901
meter) Granite Peak, the highest point in Montana.
There are hundreds of alpine and subalpine lakes that lie in bedrock pockets gouged out of
the granite by pat glaciers. Many are great fishing. The only grayling I ever
caught came from an obscure lake after a cross country hike in the
Beartooths.

The massive Beartooth uplift gets pounded by snow in the
winter -- as much as 30 feet! Such a climate and Beartooth topography might seem quite a
barrier to the wolves released in the "comparatively mild" and lower Lamar
Valley to the southwest. Nevertheless, many of the Park's wolves have crossed the Beartooths at least once in the fall, winter, and spring.

Most of the Beartooths are permanently protected by means of
Wilderness designation. Back in the 1970s Congress established the Absaroka/Beartooth
Wilderness. This Wilderness area is over 500-thousand acres in size. Its establishment was
a great environmental victory. A major controversy at the time was the attempt by some
development interests to build another entrance road into Yellowstone Park -- a road from
the north through the roadless country of the Boulder River and down Slough Creek. As
wolf, not to mention grizzly bear and elk movements show, roadless Slough Creek is a vital
part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Most folks are happy that proposal was
killed. People need to be on guard, however, as the land despoilers never rest.

Not to be confused with the vast Absaroka Range of Wyoming, which lies to
the east and southeast of Yellowstone, Montana's Absaroka are quite different --
a generally non-volcanic range, composed of a variety of rocks.

This rugged mountain range is also part of the great
Absaroka/Beartooth Wilderness -- though it is little-traveled compared to the Beartooth
Mountains which rise adjacent to the east of the Absaroka.

The Absaroka Range presents a very bold
front on its west face . . . strikingly beautiful from Paradise Valley south
of Livingston. However, the numerous short canyons in the part of the
Wilderness facing the Paradise Valley have few trails.